There are a wide variety of devices that can be connected to a gaming machine adapted for wagering, such as a slot machine or video poker machine. Some examples of these associated devices are lights, card readers, speakers, bill validators, coin acceptors, display panels, key pads, coin hoppers, button pads, ticket printers, and ticket readers, and integral ticket I/O devices capable of both printing and receiving tickets. Many of these devices are built into the gaming machine or components associated with the gaming machine such as a top box, which usually sits on top of the gaming machine.
Typically, utilizing a master gaming controller, the gaming machine controls various combinations of devices that allow a player to play a game on the gaming machine and also encourage game play on the gaming machine. For example, a game played on a gaming machine usually requires a player to input money or indicia of credit into the gaming machine, indicate a wager amount, and initiate a game play. These steps require the gaming machine to control input devices, including bill validators and coin acceptors, to accept money into the gaming machine and recognize user inputs from devices, including key pads and button pads, to determine the wager amount and initiate game play.
After game play has been initiated, the gaming machine determines a game outcome, presents the game outcome to the player and may dispense an award of some type depending on the outcome of the game. A game outcome presentation may utilize many different visual and audio components such as flashing lights, music, sounds and graphics. The visual and audio components of the game outcome presentation may be used to draw a player's attention to various game features and to heighten the player's interest in additional game play. Maintaining a game player's interest in game play, such as on a gaming machine or during other gaming activities, is an important consideration for an operator of a gaming establishment.
Gaming establishments continue to seek new ways of attracting current and new game players. For example, besides common advertising, gaming establishments often offer “player rewards programs.” In accordance with these programs, a player's game play is tracked. If the player's play reaches one or more levels, the player may be entitled to an award separate from any award paid by obtaining a winning outcome of a particular game played by the player. For example, a player's wagers may be tracked in the form of points. If the player reaches a level of play evidenced by the total points accrued, the player may be awarded a prize.
As technology in the gaming industry progresses, the traditional method of dispensing coins or tokens as awards for winning game outcomes is being supplemented by ticket dispensers which print ticket vouchers that may be exchanged for cash or accepted as credit of indicia in other gaming machines for additional game play. An award ticket system, which allows award ticket vouchers to be dispensed and utilized by other gaming machines, increases the operational efficiency of maintaining a gaming machine and simplifies the player pay out process. An example of such an award ticket system using tickets redeemable for credits or cash, is the EZ Pay™ ticket system by IGT of Reno, Nev. Award ticket systems and systems using other cashless mediums, such as smart cards, are referred to herein as cashless systems.
Currently, cashless systems have become very popular and have been embraced by customers. For example, ticket vouchers that are generated upon cashout and redeemed for cash or gaming machine credits within a particular casino are well accepted by game players. When a ticket voucher is generated in a gaming machine, the ticket voucher is typically printed on a media of some type such as paper. Various voucher parameters including a voucher value, an issue time, a place of issue, an identification number, graphics, etc., may be printed on the paper ticket. In addition, the voucher parameters may be stored electronically at some location for verification and auditing purposes. Once the ticket voucher is printed, a customer may remove the ticket and may utilize it for additional game play credits or redeem it for cash.
While cashless systems such as EZ Pay™ represent a significant advance in the art, cashless games and applications are still in their infancy, in some regards. Therefore, other cashless applications remain to be developed and implemented.
Traditionally, promotional cards with stored gaming credits have been provided to visitors in a gaming venue such as a casino for the purpose of promoting play across the spectrum of gaming machines at the venue. That is, the visitor, who might be, for example, a frequent customer, might be given such a promotional card as a reward for the visitor's past patronage and as an inducement for continued patronage. The visitor can then use the card and its credits in any gaming machine of her choosing.
While this mechanism may be useful for generating customer loyalty to a particular venue or chain of venues, it has not been effective for precisely directing customer behavior with respect to specific gaming machines or apparatus. Instead, if a casino or gaming machine manufacturer wanted to encourage customers to play to a new game, only standard marketing mechanisms, e.g., signage, advertising, have typically been employed. As will be understood, the fact that conventional promotional cards allow the customer to play any of the available gaming machines at a gaming establishment makes such cards ill-suited for promoting play of a specific gaming machine or device.